The Forgotten Field - Chapter 65

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 65
“The Imperial Palace is that kind of place. Monsters who will do anything before power lurk everywhere. If you’ve decided to live here, you’d better steel yourself.”
Theorik spoke while patting his shoulder.
Edrick, frozen by shock, slowly lifted his head and stared at his superior’s face.
“Does Grand Duke Sierkan know about all this?”
“Of course. It was the Captain Commander himself who ordered the investigation of all these facts.”
“Then why….”
Edrick trailed off as if he couldn’t comprehend.
The man looking down at that face shrugged his shoulders and spoke.
“Who knows…. There’s no way for us to know what that man is thinking.”
….
“But I’d wager there’s some reason he must accept the marriage to the Second Princess.”
Edrick furrowed his brow.
What could that reason possibly be?
As I contemplated the inscrutable man’s face with a grave expression, a heavy blow struck my back.
Edrick turned around in surprise.
Sir Hart, who had struck his back with his thick palm, spoke in a lighter tone as if to clear the atmosphere.
“Anyway, don’t concern yourself with the Second Princess’s affairs anymore.”
Then he added somewhat seriously.
“The Second Princess will leave the Imperial Palace soon. Once that happens, you won’t have to see her again. So shake off those lingering doubts and focus on your own future.”
The last remark was almost a rebuke.
Theorik shook his head in disapproval.
“You made a terrible impression on the Crown Prince during the pilgrimage. You’re worried about others when you should be concerned about yourself.”
Edrick’s complexion darkened.
Being pointed out about the very thing he was already anxious about made his shoulders feel heavier.
Seeing his dejected state, Theorik let out an exasperated laugh.
“Well, I thought you had no ambitions for advancement, the way you’ve been acting so recklessly, but it seems that’s not quite the case?”
“That was… because I thought I had to fulfill my duties as a Royal Guard Knight. In any case, I was his knight.”
At this rigid response, complex emotions flickered across Sir Hart’s face.
He stared intently at his subordinate’s face before exhaling a long breath.
“I’m telling you again—that role is over. It’s time you returned to your proper place.”
Edrick gazed quietly up at his resolute face, then turned his head to look at the towering City Walls rising between the dense trees.
Between the deep green trees, the roof of the Separate Palace where the Second Princess resided came into view.
She was someone I had served for merely a couple of months.
Had I not witnessed her suffer such terrible injuries before my eyes, I likely wouldn’t have concerned myself with her existence at all.
‘Sir Hart is right.’
My role as her protector was now finished.
The cruel circumstances surrounding that woman were unfortunate, but there was nothing I could do about it.
‘Perhaps it’s for the best.’
As Sir Hart said, this Imperial Palace was a place where monsters blinded by power crawled everywhere.
Moreover, she was thoroughly despised by all.
If I were to marry Grand Duke Sierkan and depart for the Eastern Territories, at least I could escape the hostile people surrounding me.
Edrick dispelled the vague guilt with a heavy sigh and promptly nodded.
“I understand perfectly what you mean, sir.”
Satisfied with his response, a bright smile bloomed at Sir Hart’s lips.
He draped one arm across his subordinate’s shoulder as he spoke.
“Good. Then let’s be on our way and attend to our duties.”
Being dragged along by him, Edrick cast one final glance over his shoulder at the Separate Palace’s roof. But soon he straightened his head and strode forward with purpose.
* * *
I lay upon the bed, watching dust particles drift through the air.
Glimmering specks undulated along the currents of flowing air, drifting lazily through the void before settling gently upon my body.
I extended my hand to set them aloft once more, observing their leisurely descent.
I could not fathom why I was engaging in such peculiar behavior.
It was as though I had become seaweed.
Meaningless gestures continued, like aquatic plants swaying with the current.
Could it be that the injury was not to my leg, but to my head?
As I sat absorbed in such thoughts, the sound of the door opening and closing reached my ears.
I turned my eyes to regard the intruder.
The Nursemaid burst in with an armful of fabric, her expression severe.
“How can you still be lying there like that!”
Her shrill voice scraped unpleasantly against my eardrums.
I pulled the blanket up over my head. The Nursemaid swiftly snatched it away and continued pouring forth her sharp voice.
“Get up this instant and bathe yourself! You threw such a tantrum insisting you wouldn’t let anyone else tend to your body that I sent all the Handmaidens away, and now what are you doing!”
I glared at her with furrowed brows.
I could not comprehend what she was saying. It seemed I had only been sleeping, but had someone visited in the meantime?
I surveyed the chamber with unfocused eyes. Broken vessels and objects lay scattered about. It appeared I had indeed thrown a tantrum.
“I said get up!”
The Nursemaid forcibly lifted my limp body upright.
I gazed blankly at the Nursemaid’s flushed face with drowsy eyes.
Apparently frustrated by my demeanor, the Nursemaid struck her own chest with her fist.
“How much medicinal herb did you burn while I was away? You can barely walk as it is—how do you intend to enter the wedding hall!”
“Wedding hall?”
“The wedding ceremony must be held!”
“Who’s getting married?”
The Nursemaid’s round face turned as red as a plum. Her thoroughly angry expression was almost amusing.
I wagged my half-loosened tongue carelessly.
“Congratulations on your wedding, Nursemaid.”
“It’s you who’s getting married today, Miss!”
The Nursemaid shrieked like a goose with a twisted neck.
“You said you would do it yourself—why are you acting like this!”
Talia’s brow furrowed.
Now that I thought about it, I had agreed to marry Barcas.
When had I said that?
I couldn’t remember. My sense of time had dissolved into smoke and vanished.
With a vacant expression, I blinked slowly before finally swinging my legs over the edge of the bed.
In any case, today was my wedding day.
I supposed I couldn’t just lie here.
I stumbled toward the screen, my movements unsteady.
“I’ll help you bathe and put on your undergarments. You’ll need to leave the rest to the Empress’s Household handmaidens.”
“…All right.”
“You absolutely must not scratch or strike anyone.”
“What am I, a cat? Why would I scratch a person?”
The Nursemaid’s face twisted as though she’d bitten into something inedible.
Her bewildered expression struck me as amusing, and I let out a soft laugh. The Nursemaid sighed deeply before peeling away my nightgown.
“Now hurry and wash yourself.”
I stepped into the bath.
Cold water cascaded over my head moments later.
I brushed aside the hair obscuring my eyes and rubbed at the stinging sensation.
The Nursemaid seemed in a hurry.
She poured an entire bottle of fragrant oil over me and began scrubbing my entire body with a large brush—her touch more akin to washing a dog than attending to a princess.
Yet I accepted her ministrations without complaint. My dulled senses meant the scrubbing barely hurt.
“Come now, out you go.”
After pouring cold water over my head four times in succession, the Nursemaid urged me forward with growing impatience.
I climbed from the bath, water dripping from my body.
The Nursemaid wrapped me in a large towel to dry me off, then dressed me in undergarments and a slip in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
I had never known the Nursemaid—usually slower than a snail—could move with such speed.
As I watched in fascination, she wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand and rushed from the chamber, returning moments later with the handmaidens in tow.
I found myself surrounded by dozens of women.
Well, perhaps not dozens. With one woman appearing as two, two as three or four, there were likely fewer than it seemed.
Yet to my eyes, they numbered in the dozens.
I blinked at the dizzying sight before closing my eyes.
Soon after, the handmaidens completed their preparations and led me somewhere. It felt as though I were being swept away by a current into an endless sea.
When I regained my senses, I found myself already aboard a grand carriage, traveling toward some destination.
I gazed out the window with hazy eyes.
A sky stained deep indigo came into view, and beneath it stood an enormous chapel.
The moment that blurred landscape entered my sight, an inexplicable dread rose within me.
As I stared at the chapel entrance drawing ever closer, cold sweat streamed down my face. I gripped the door handle.
Just as I was about to kick the door open and leap out, the carriage came to an abrupt halt without warning.
The sudden stop sent me stumbling, and I fell to the floor.
My knee struck the ground hard, and sharp pain radiated through my pelvis. I bit my lip and swallowed a cry.
At that moment, the carriage door swung open, and a deep shadow cascaded down upon my head.
I lifted my gaze sharply, and the sight of Barcas—enshrouded as though by ashen curtains—stole the breath from my lungs.
Draped loosely over his pristine ceremonial robes was a coat embroidered with his family crest, and he bent toward me with deliberate grace.
I felt the weight of his blue eyes tracing slowly across my face.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————